The effects of California's drought could soon hit the state's food banks, which serve 2 million of its poorest residents.

Fresh produce accounts for more than half the handouts at Bay Area food banks, but with an estimated minimum of 500,000 acres to be fallowed in California, growers will have fewer fruits and vegetables to donate.

With less local supply, food prices will spike, increasing as much as 34 percent for a head of lettuce and 18 percent for tomatoes, according to an Arizona State University study released last week. With fewer fields planted, there could be as many as 20,000 unemployed agricultural workers who will need more food handouts, especially in the Central Valley.

And if urban food banks like those in Oakland and San Francisco can't get produce from the valley, which grows a third of the nation's fruits and vegetables, their transportation costs to haul in out-of-state produce will soar.

"It's not like we can raise our prices - everything is free," said Paul Ash, director of the San Francisco/Marin Food Bank, which distributes 149,000 meals a day across the two counties. "Not knowing (what the drought's effect will be) is a real frustration. We have to be planners, and it's hard to do that right now."A penny difference

The Alameda County Community Food Bank expects to distribute roughly 17.8 million pounds of produce next year - about 14.5 million of that amount via the California Association of Food Banks. The Alameda County food bank pays 11 cents a pound to cover picking, packing and freight costs. Even a 1 cent per pound increase could mean $145,000 in additional costs. With an annual budget of $12 million, the organization can't take too many hits like that.

"There's absolutely a lot of nervousness here," said Allison Pratt, director of policy and services at the Alameda County food bank.

Also nervous is Mark Johnson - a Castro Valley father of two who visits three food banks a month, including one at South Hayward Parish in Hayward operated by the Alameda County food bank.

Fresh produce "would cost me $150-$175 a month if I had to buy it," said Johnson, toting two paper bags of celery and oranges.

He said he relies almost exclusively on food banks for his produce because "my income's not going up." Johnson, 58, does some freelance video production and manages an apartment building in exchange for rent.

Just ahead of him in line last week was Cathy Garcia and her 3-year-old son, Bryan. For the past six months, she has stopped by the South Hayward Parish. They've needed extra help as her husband struggles to pick up construction and landscaping work.

Garcia is 8 1/2 months pregnant and wants to keep eating healthy, so she relies on the produce from the pantry. She doesn't have the $50 a month it would cost her to buy the produce she receives from the pantry and elsewhere.

"Oh, no, it would be too much," Garcia said.

The lines keep growing. Four years ago, the program served 30 families a day during the four days a week it was open. Now it serves more than 100 families a day, said Ralph Morales, who is the director of the emergency food program at South Hayward Parish.

Central Valley impact

If the drought's impacts are as big as predicted, and there is less produce to go around, "the food we give people will last only two, two-and-a-half days," he said. "Now it is supposed to last three."

The drought's biggest impact will be in the Central Valley, where some food banks are already working to change their distribution strategy. They don't want a repeat of what happened five years ago, when the peak of the last drought coincided with the housing meltdown.

The effects of California's drought could soon hit the state's food banks, which serve 2 million of its poorest residents.

Fresh produce accounts for more than half the handouts at Bay Area food banks, but with an estimated minimum of 500,000 acres to be fallowed in California, growers will have fewer fruits and vegetables to donate.

With less local supply, food prices will spike, increasing as much as 34 percent for a head of lettuce and 18 percent for tomatoes, according to an Arizona State University study released last week. With fewer fields planted, there could be as many as 20,000 unemployed agricultural workers who will need more food handouts, especially in the Central Valley.

And if urban food banks like those in Oakland and San Francisco can't get produce from the valley, which grows a third of the nation's fruits and vegetables, their transportation costs to haul in out-of-state produce will soar.

"It's not like we can raise our prices - everything is free," said Paul Ash, director of the San Francisco/Marin Food Bank, which distributes 149,000 meals a day across the two counties. "Not knowing (what the drought's effect will be) is a real frustration. We have to be planners, and it's hard to do that right now."

If the drought's impacts are as big as predicted, and there is less produce to go around, "the food we give people will last only two, two-and-a-half days," he said. "Now it is supposed to last three."

The drought's biggest impact will be in the Central Valley, where some food banks are already working to change their distribution strategy. They don't want a repeat of what happened five years ago, when the peak of the last drought coincided with the housing meltdown.